China is leading the world in vigorously growing clean-technology industry, an area that helps fight the planet’s climate change, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature reported.

Although Denmark earns the biggest share of its national revenue from producing windmills and other clean technologies, no country can match China's pace of growth in the clean-tech sector, the Fund said.

China's production of green technologies has grown by 77 per cent a year, said a report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, which was disclosed yesterday.

Just a couple of years ago, Chinese wind equipment makers were mainly focused on how to compete with global leaders like Vestas of Denmark and General Electric of the United States in the fast-growing domestic market. Today, some of them have become world-class names themselves and now face a new challenge: How to cope with a buyer's market.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang shakes hands with construction workers on May 6 during an inspection tour in Fujian province. He underscored the importance of reforms and innovation in the country's economic transformation in Fujian.

China, if measured by the number of ships it produces and the number of orders it receives for such vessels, is the foremost shipbuilder in the world.Still, the country needs more time to become a real superpower in the shipbuilding industry, said a senior industry official.

Chinese tourists have, again, topped a list of big spenders in France. A record 57.4 million Chinese took out-bound trips in 2010 - the fourth-largest number worldwide according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization - an increase of 20.4 percent from the previous year.

China has put its excessive population growth under effective control, and has greatly improved the population quality, entering a stage of low birth and death rates, according to the results of the country's sixth national census published on April 28.

Excessive population growth under control

Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that according to the census data, China's population increased by 73.9 million or nearly 6 percent from 2000 to 2010, representing an average growth rate of nearly 0.6 percent per year. However, its population increased by 130 million or nearly 11 percent from 1990 to 2000, representing an average growth rate of more than 1 percent per year.

The net population growth over the 2000-2010 decade stood at 56 million people less that of the previous decade.

This shows that China's family planning policy has been effectively implemented, and the excessive population growth has been brought under control. The slower growth rate has reduced the population pressure on the environment, and laid a solid foundation for the rapid yet steady economic and social development.

If war and peace is a duel eternal theme throughout the human history, the recent years has witnessed war-dominant international scenario. Hence, it is highly advisable for China to build up the globally notable "peace research institutes" or "peace and development research institutes," which will act as the most authoritative think tank assisting the government in its domestic and foreign policies decision by offering information, documents and wisdom.

As a matter of fact, U.S. and European countries have moved far ahead of China in this regard. The independent "peace institutes" have actually turned out to be the indispensable think tank for Heads of States when they hammer out foreign policies. Just to name a few.

The State Council's hopes of staving off elevating prices and controlling annual inflation within 4 percent at the end of this year seem increasingly elusive, as the policy-makers' reluctance to step up tightening in the first five months would cause bigger credit and asset bubbles in the coming months.

The mounting calls by some scholars and demographers to relax China's iconic family planning policy is good-willed, fearing a depletion of labor pool would shortcut the economic boom and intensify the country's aging. But, any revision of a highly successful basic state policy warrants caution.

It is particularly intriguing that more and more foreign demographers join some Chinese research fellows in insisting Beijing abandon the one-child policy in all Chinese cities, and allow every couple to have two children. These experts contend China's low birthrate, once an economic advantage, is now destined to clip the country's rise.

We cannot fathom how many newborns will arrive if the policy sluice is lifted. However, considering China now has an urban population of 630 million, twice the total population of the United States, we are really unsure of our cities' ability to accommodate an ever larger populace.

The one-child policy, planned and promulgated in late 1970s, is an integral part of Mr. Deng Xiaoping's reform package.

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CHENGDU - Emergency procedures will be upgraded to ensure nuclear safety in China following the Japan crisis, a senior official said on Sunday.

Ongoing safety inspections show that existing emergency procedures require further improvement to deal with multiple disasters, as happened in Japan, Liu Hua, head of the nuclear safety and radioactive safety management department under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, told China Daily.

JAKARTA - As ASEAN is marching toward the 2015 integration goal, the bloc starts considering playing a bigger role in regional affairs as well as on the global front.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, when speaking at the opening ceremony of the 18th ASEAN Summit on Saturday, said one of the top issues the 10-member bloc should now take into serious consideration is a vision for ASEAN in post-2015 period.

"We have to ensure successful discussions on the urgent need for a post-2015 vision for ASEAN, namely the role of ASEAN community in a global community of nations," he said.

"ASEAN community in a global community of nations", which is also the theme of the ongoing summit, indicates the bloc's growing aspiration to participate in world affairs at the same level as established powers, analysts said.

BEIJING -- With the government's ongoing and persistent efforts to cool the red-hot property market, Chinese property developers are struggling to sell properties while becoming more encumbered with debt.

The debt of the country's property developers rose 41.27 percent year on year to 1.05 trillion yuan ($61.53 million) by the end of March, the Wind Information, a Shanghai-based financial data provider, said in a recent report.

Of 113 listed property developers that had filed their first-quarter reports to Chinese stock exchanges, 25 reported profit losses and 42 registered slower profit growth rates from January to March. Most of them are small- and medium-sized property developers. See Kaixin's - CHINA REAL ESTATE

BEIJING - China's rural residents are enjoying the same voting rights as urban dwellers for the first time in ongoing elections for lawmakers at the county and township levels.

The new round of elections was launched when a two-day training session on elections started in Beijing on Friday.

During the elections, which are held every five years, more than 2 million lawmakers at the county and township levels are elected in more than 2,000 counties and 30,000 townships, according to China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

The latest elections are the first since the adoption of the new Electoral Law in March 2010. The law requires "both rural and urban areas have the same ratio of deputies to the represented population in elections for people's congress deputies".

The amendment to the electoral law was regarded as part of China's efforts to narrow the urban-rural gap by ensuring both segments of society have the same voting rights.

Statistics show that more than 900 million people will vote for lawmakers at the county level and more than 600 million will vote at the township level.

BEIJING - Zhongguancun may be hailed as China's most famous village by foreigners. Dubbed as "China's Silicon Valley", the country's biggest high-tech park in west Beijing is not only home to Chinese high-tech companies such as Lenovo, Baidu and Sohu.com, it is also the China headquarters of world-renowned technology companies such as Google, Microsoft and Intel.

As part of China's efforts to build an innovative economy, the State Council, China's Cabinet, recently approved a development plan called the Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone (2011-2020) that allows companies in the area to try out new measures and pilot projects.

The plan, which includes a drive to boost the total revenues of companies in Zhongguancun to 10 trillion yuan ($1.8 trillion) in 2020 from 1.55 trillion yuan last year, is designed to help the area become one of the world's most famous technology hubs. The predicted income increase will come from increased sales on the back of tax incentives for companies moving there and research and development subsidies.

Zhongguancun-based companies garnered business revenues of 380 million yuan ($69 million) in the first quarter of this year, up 12 percent on a year-on-year basis. The State Council recently approved a development plan called the Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone (2011-2020) that allows companies in the area to try out new measures and pilot projects.

PHNOM PENH -- Bank of China has officially begun its branch in Cambodia on Saturday, and its Phnom Penh Branch is the first lender from China in the country and is the Kingdom's 30th commercial bank.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon believes that the bank's presence here would contribute to the development of Cambodian economy.

"The bank will provide advantages and positive inputs to Cambodia to boost its banking industry and economic growth," he said during the launching ceremony, which was attended by about 200 bankers, local and Chinese businesspeople in Cambodia.

SHANGHAI - Shanghai's long-awaited international trading board has come under intense scrutiny after a flurry of recent media reports that China's regulator has selected 10 foreign and overseas companies to offer yuan-denominated shares for sale to domestic investors.

While the new development has thrilled many investors at a time when the Chinese bourses are in the doldrums, analysts have remained skeptical. They pointed to potential problems in share price evaluation, unpredictable capital flow and supervisory issues. What's more, the international board, as proposed, could render the B-share market redundant.

B Shares - foreign-invested shares issued domestically by Chinese companies and subscribed and traded in foreign currencies - have been mired in low volume trading for years.

BEIJING - The nation's fifth-biggest carmaker Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC) has laid out a blueprint to join the ranks of the Fortune 500 and the world's top 15 automotive companies by 2015, it announced at the recent Shanghai auto show.

The ambitious goal will be bolstered by its own-brand cars, which is the "most important" of its business plan over the next five years, the company said.

2011 marks the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet, and the magazine China's Tibet and Federation of Literary and Art Circles of Tibet Autonomous Region are jointly holding a "Witness of Tibet, 1950-2010" photography contest. In addition to prizes, all winning works will be exhibited in Beijing and Lhasa in May 2011.

CHENGDU, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese top political advisor Jia Qinglin has urged southwest China's Sichuan Province to speed up environmentally friendly economic development and improve the people's livelihood during an inspection tour in the province.

DJIBOUTI, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China's Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo attended here on Sunday the inaugural ceremony of Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh as the special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

President Guelleh ...aimed at transforming one of Africa's smallest countries into a Red Sea hub.

CHENGDU, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The seventh Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum closed Sunday in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, with the adoption of 19 proposals for the promotion of cross-Strait cooperation in various fields.

ISLAMABAD, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Sunday lauded China's successes in various fields and said the success is a matter of great pride for the people and the government of Pakistan.

"Today China is the world's second largest economy. China has achieved this success through hard work, ingenuity, and above all the wisdom and vision of its leadership," Prime Minister Gilani said while speaking at a function here marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Good regulation, but not so good enforcement? To help answer that, we're joined by our current affairs commentator, Li Yong. Good evening.

Q1:Well, five days since the regulation came in, fixed property prices are still not on show in many real estate offices. As the authorities can't conduct constant checks, what else can be done to enforce the rules?

Q2:Developers who violate the regulation could be fined up to one million yuan, or over 150 thousand US dollars. But the fine is nothing to wealthy developers. Some say the authorities should impose harsher punishments. What do you think?

Q3: There is something in the regulation that's not so easy to carry out, such as how to set fixed prices for second-hand properties. As home owners may ask more than one agencies to sell their properties, how can this area of the market be regulated?

Background: Population growth also suggests higher density. There are, on average, nearly 12-hundred people per square kilometer in Beijing. In the downtown zone alone, more than 23-thousand residents occupy an area of one square kilometer. Chaoyang District, in the eastern part of the city, has the most inhabitants, followed by Haidian and Fengtai. Full story >>

Now let's turn to Professor Du Peng once again ...

Q1: People continue to pour into Beijing, due to the possibility of carving out better lives. But the population density has also become very high. Is the city overdeveloped? And how can all these migrants settle down, and pursue prosperous futures in the capital, under such conditions?

For more on the power shortage, we are joined by Li Yong, our current affairs commentator. Hello.

Q1, The unusual timing of this power shortage is a big concern for both enterprises and the government. Traditionally, the summer peak is when a power shortage is likely to take place. What has caused this early power shortage?

Q2, Excessive demand of electricity is thought to be one of the reasons behind this power shortage. But on the other hand, short supply of fuel is making the situation worse. What measures need to be taken to alleviate the situation?

Unmarketable vegetables have become a headache for farmers all over China. Two weeks ago, a farmer committed suicide due to the slump in vegetable prices in Shandong Province. During the following investigation, CCTV reporter Zhang Shuo finds out that the vegetable problem is not unique.

Tons of cucumbers piled up... waiting for wholesalers to buy... but no one comes.

Waiting in vain has become a daily routine here for Laokou villagers in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

China's three day Mayday weekend has begun with millions of people heading to the country's scenic and historic spots and festivals.

Eighty thousand people have come to Xi'an in north-west China's Shaanxi province to admire the flowers.

It's the first peak of visitors since the opening of the International Horticultural Expo.

The nearby, Huashan Mountains have also seen a five percent increase in visitors compared with last year.

Tourist Guide said, "My customers reacted positively to the expo yesterday, and they insisted on visiting Huashan Mountain because it's so famous."

Along the ancient silk road, Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang city have seen a doubling in the number of tourists from around the world over last year, with a range of activities to take part in. (pics of camel riding and sand-skiing)

From the sandy areas and to high up on the snowy mountains, people are grasping the last remnants of winter.

In the northeast of China, and due to its high altitude, Changbai Mountain is still white although most of China is blossoming with spring.

"In my hometown, it's more than 20 degrees Celsius, It's pretty warm. And it's surprising we can see snow up here." Tourist said.

More than three thousand visited Changbai Mountains on a single day, another 30 per cent increase.

"Meet in Beijing", the largest and most reputable spring time art festival in China, was kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday. An exceptional show featuring both Peking and western opera opened the 11th year of the event at the Poly Theater.

What kind of chemistry do you get when a 200-year-old Chinese stage art meets western opera, which was born in the early 16th century? The opening ceremony of "Meet in Beijing" provides a very harmonious answer.

Background: China's State Information Office has release the results of the country's sixth national census. Ma Jiantang, Director of the Bureau of Statistics, who is also the deputy director of the census team, fielded questions from reporters. Full story >>

Topic 1: Will aging population affect China's economy?

Q: Mr. Wang, do you think that with the rapidly aging population, China may soon be unable to sustain the fast economic growth it has experienced over the past three decades?

Background: China's urban population had risen to 665.57 million, accounting for 49.68 percent of the country's total population by Nov. 1 2010, official figures released Thursday indicated. Full story >>

Q：Mr. Wang, what's the reason behind the dramatic increase in the urban population over the past decade?

The UK taught the world how to produce in the 19th century, the US showed the world how to consume in the 20th century, and China needs to demonstrate how to develop in a sustainable way in the 21st century.

China defended its business environment on Thursday after US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke lodged complaints in that regard, less than a week ahead of the two sides' annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

The latest population census indicates that the numbers of both Chinese senior citizens above 60 and of the floating population rank top in the world.

In the past decade, Guangdong Province became the most populated place in China, and Henan dropped from being top to the third most-populated province. No country except China has seen such significant changes in population distribution.

China's population balance system has partially failed. The western development strategy cannot reverse the trend of increasing population in the eastern regions. As to the expansion of large cities, there is no sign of this trend changing. Society seems to accept it, and life in large cities is organized around the process. Our society also seems to be giving up on avoiding resource limits in large cities.

In the past, public opinion paid most attention to the aging problem in China as it is also being faced in Europe and Japan. Their examples could be used by China to handle the issue. Because China has a large population base and the aging problem is more serious in the eastern region, such problem has a good chance of being diluted.

Some truck drivers in Shanghai went on strike last week to express their discontent over rising costs. The Shanghai municipal government responded by cutting the fees over the weekend and quickly defused the tension. Trucks laden with cargo containers are operating as usual once again at China's busiest port.

This is a typical event with clear labor interests at play. It can be assumed that similar incidents will continue to occur.

Due to the broadening of China's market economy, interests will be further differentiated, and it will become tougher to avoid clashes among various interest groups. Such conflicts will essentially become a normal part of China's social make-up.

Some Western media outlets have paid close attention to the Shanghai strike, and linked it to the "Jasmine Revolution." Over the past months, more than a few Westerners have politicized any mass event in China, and interpreted it as a fuse to spark a "revolution." Nevertheless, such comparisons have consistently proved to be invalid.

HONG KONG—Wages are rising in China, heralding the possible end of an era of cheap goods.

For the past 30 years, customers would ask William Fung, the managing director of one of the world's biggest manufacturing-outsourcing companies, to make his products—whether T-shirts, jeans or dishes—cheaper. Thanks to China's seemingly limitless labor force, he usually could.

WASHINGTON—U.S. officials will press China to allow the value of its currency, the yuan, to rise more quickly, amid signs that Beijing may be deciding to move at a faster clip in part to fight inflation.

Another meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue, another brief surge for the yuan.

The annualized month-on-month pace of appreciation for the Chinese currency against the dollar hit 10.6% in April, from 3.4% in March. In addition to any usual attempt to take some heat out of talks about the yuan/dollar exchange rate, surging inflation has given Beijing a reason to let the currency move higher.

But it will be cold comfort for most of China's trade partners and rivals. The slumping dollar means that even as the yuan has ...

Laura D’Andrea Tyson is a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and served as chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton.

The demand for tough action by American policy makers fails to recognize that the renminbi has already appreciated significantly relative to the dollar, exaggerates the benefits of a stronger renminbi for the United States and overlooks the benefits of a stronger renminbi for China itself.

A recent Times article described how China is stepping up efforts to lure home the top Chinese scholars who live and work abroad. The nation is already second only to the United States in the volume of scientific papers published, and it has, as Thomas Friedman pointed out, more students in technical colleges and universities than any other country.

But China’s drive to succeed in the sciences is also subjecting its research establishment to intense pressure and sharper scrutiny. And as the standoff last week between Google and China demonstrated, the government controls the give and take of information.

How likely is it that China will become the world’s leader in science and technology, and what are the impediments to creating a research climate that would allow scientists to thrive?

Gordon G. Chang, author and columnist Cong Cao, author of “China’s Scientific Elite” John Kao, founder of Institute for Large Scale Innovation Vivek Wadhwa, entrepreneur and columnist Jonathan Moreno, professor of history and sociology of science Gang Xiao, professor of physics and engineering

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will urge China to allow higher interest rates when he meets with Chinese leaders this week, as the US extends its push for a stronger yuan.

Geithner will say China should relax controls on the financial system, give foreign banks and insurers more access and make it easier for investors to buy Chinese financial assets, said David Loevinger, the Treasury Department's senior coordinator for China. Officials from both nations are meeting in Washington today and tomorrow as part of the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

Watch for more Fed quantitative easing, slower growth and policy traps in the coming quarters

The global economy is heading toward another double-dip scare, possibly in the third quarter, in what could be a repeat of summer 2010.

Financial markets may stumble in a few months, and that could prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to introduce a third round of quantitative easing or an equivalent, which would be another step down the path toward stagflation. In this scenario, China's current monetary tightening policy would be difficult to sustain.

Government-subsidized low-cost housing has eased supply concerns in the housing market, says the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

(Beijing) -- China's overall home prices may come down in 2011, partly due to a greater housing supply created by government-subsidized low-cost housing, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said in a report on May 5.

Asia Times Online

BOOK REVIEWWhen Attlee met MaoPassport to Peking, A very British mission to Mao's China by Patrick Wright

Contrary to popular belief, United States president Richard Nixon was not the first Westerner to visit China since the communist takeover in 1949. As far back as the early 1950s there was a steady flow of foreign delegations that came to observe, probe or pay homage to China's mysterious new rulers, but their visits achieved few breakthroughs and were soon forgotten.

China side-stepped financial crisis by throwing the lion's share of rescue funds at state-owned enterprises, but this only helped fuel the excesses of these states within a state. Along with democratization to bring murky politics into the open, President Hu Jintao needs a very quick agenda for privatization. With so many having so much to lose, the fight will be tough.

A rising number of rich and talented Chinese are emigrating for investment, study and work opportunities, particularly to the West. This has raised concerns over capital loss and a "brain drain", but is better interpreted as a sign of China's increasing openness and prosperity.

Four months after the first Russian crude oil started pumping into the Chinese town of Daqing, Russian pipeline company Transneft has charged China National Petroleum Co with violating their supply contract and is threatening to open court proceedings in London.

The more we look at it, the targeted assassination of Bin Laden shows facets of that famous children's toy, the jack-in-the-box.Major powers playing this game - the US and Saudi Arabia - have finally decided they no longer needed a bogeyman conveniently resurfaced on and off to justify anything, from lack of democracy to brutal crackdowns or even drone attacks gone wrong. But why right now?

Keeping the present geopolitical status quo going is an imperative for China since American-led globalization allows it to concentrate on building economic might with the thought that political clout will follow. But Beijing is in no hurry to take over America's costly military or political responsibilities, and, besides, history tells the leadership to play the long game.

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Over the past decade, Li Yu has emerged as one of China’s most provocative art-house film directors. Her movies have often run afoul of mainland authorities because of the taboo and sensitive subjects they take on.

Her latest, “Buddha Mountain,” which opened this week in Hong Kong, also explores potentially delicate social topics but it has been less fraught with troubles over censorship.

An ethnic Dong woman serves oil tea, a mixture of tea and many other ingredients, to guests to the opening ceremony of the Sanjiangchun Tea Culture Festival in Sanjiang county, Liuzhou, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

BEIJING - Li Huijuan is a highly-educated woman who was born in Hunan province and works in Beijing. Her family is pushing her to get married because traditionally in China a woman is supposed to find a husband before she reaches 30. However, in big cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, the average age for marriage has been postponed to 35 or 40 because of the fast pace of life and work.

Like most metropolitan women, because of her busy work schedule, Li doesn't have much time for meeting people and finding a boyfriend. "A few months ago, some of my co-workers encouraged me to register with an online matchmaking website to find a boyfriend," she said.

Although she is accustomed to using the Internet for online shopping and socializing, it was still a new experience for her to find romance on the Web. "I registered at night," Li said. "I was surprised to receive more than 10 messages the following morning."

Young opera star combines her own passion with seven generations of family tradition

Unlike her peers who were born in the 1980s and are fascinated by modern Western pop music and soap operas, Tan Na focuses her mind on Peking opera, determined to learn and develop the traditional Chinese art.

Tan's success in resisting modern temptations may be due to the long tradition of opera in her family.

Born in 1981 in Beijing, Tan is a seventh-generation descendant of Tan Xinpei, a famous Peking opera artist who lived from 1847 to 1917 and was well-known for his roles of laosheng - a term that refers to elderly male roles.

Tan fell in love with Peking opera at a very young age. In 1992, Tan was enrolled at Beijing Opera School (which is now renamed Beijing Vocational Institute of Local Opera and Arts). Her focus was to play qingyi - a term that refers to roles of faithful wife, lover or maiden in distress.

After graduation in 1998, Tan became a professional performer in Beijing Peking Opera Theater. After that, with the stage name Tan Mingxin, she played different roles in classic operas such as Celestial Beauty Scattering Flowers, Farewell My Concubine and The Drunken Beauty.

Clockwise:Tan Na checks her make-up and puts on an elaborate hair ornament before her performance. The diva performs, sans face paint, singing highlights from the opera Mu Guiying. Elaborate fingerwork and footwork demand hours of rehearsals before a performance. Tan Na (middle) performs another classic, The Drunken Beauty. The actress grips a prop at rehearsal.

Literally meaning "sun and moon in heart" in Tibetan, Shangri-La, located in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan province, covering 23,870 square kilometers, is a well-know tourist spot, an ideal home only found in heaven.

Not everybody has read the book - lost horizon (1933), but few would not recognize the name of Shangri-La, a heaven away from the turbulent mundane world.

A tea maker screens fragmentary tealeaves with a sieve to make Enshi Yulu Tea or Jade Dew Tea in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China's Hubei province, April 30, 2011. The Jade Dew Tea, originating from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and popular during the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), is one of the very few types of steamed green teas in China. The fresh tealeaves can only be processed from early April to early May with tealeaves steamed first and then rolled, dried and picked totally by hand. During the process of making the tea, the tea makers have to stand for a long time and have hands bear high temperature, so very few young people are now willing to learn the skill, making the craftsmanship on the verge of death. Li Zongmeng and Lei Yuangui, professional Jade Dew Tea makers, have been engaged in manually making the tea for 40 years here.

Many people do, says Eric Chang, the international director of 20th-century Chinese art and Asian contemporary art for Christie’s in Hong Kong. In the auction house’s sale of Asian contemporary art — on May 28-29 — the face of Chairman Mao will be a recurring theme.

To say that Shen Huiqiang, a former real estate executive, is passionate about organic farming would be a gross understatement. Three years ago, the 32-year-old Zhejiang native quit a 200,000-yuan-a-year job in Beijing to return to his hometown, where he put his entire 400,000-yuan-in-savings into a new home for him and his wife and parents, and a 40,000-square-meter farm he leased from local farmers. Shen had decided to live off the land.

You are what you eat: Former-executive-turned-organic-farmer Shen Huiqiang proudly shows his naturally-grown corn from his own field.

The first Beijing International Film Festival kicked off on Saturday night, April 23, with a star-studded red carpet walk and a grand opening ceremony at the National Center for the Performing Arts.

Among the celebration were heavyweights from Chinese film industry like actor Jackie Chan, Zhang Ziyi, the festival's image ambassadors, and directors John Woo, Peter Chan as well as big names from key international film festivals like Marco Muller from Italy, Cameron Bailey from Toronto and Lee Yong Kwan from Busan.

Renowned director Darren Aronofsky from Oscar-winning film "Black Swan" and Rob Minkoff, helmer of "Lion King" and "The Forbidden Kingdom" also showed up for the spectacular gathering.

This event marks another world shaking event in Beijing after it successfully hosted the Olympic Games in 2008, and a big stride the modern metropolis has made to have the same influence in the world's cinema culture alongside sports.

As the culture center of China, the capital city produced the very first Chinese film "The Battle of Dingjunshan" in 1905 and takes up 50% in the country's film output, said Guo Jinlong, mayor of Beijing at the ceremony.

Jackie Chan and Zhang Ziyi, image ambassadors for the 1st Beijing International Film Festival walk the red carpet at the festival's opening ceremony in Beijing's the National Center for the Performing Arts Saturday night, April 23, 2011.

One of the most anticipated events in China's film industry this year and the first ever Film Festival in the capital, "Beijing International Film Festival" kicked off at the National Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday. Many renown directors, actors and actresses walked the red carpet.

Organized by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Beijing Municipal Government, the festival saw Top Chinese film stars and renowned directors such as Fan Bingbing and Feng Xiaogang strut their stuff in front of the Beijing and international media.

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony also saw many international representatives of the movie industry attend including John Woo, Lion King Director Rob Mintoff, actors Edmond Wong and Director Bak-Ming. International movie stars Jackie Chan and Zhang Ziyi were featured as the "Image Ambassadors" of the event, who have contributed much of their efforts on promoting not only the film festival, but also the city of Beijing.

As part of the ongoing Beijing International Film Festival, "China's Ethnic Minority Languages Film Festival" is an event that screens films produced by China's ethnic minority groups. This is the first time that a film festival has dedicated an independent event to ethnic films in the country.

Opened in Jackie Chan Cinema on Monday, the panorama features 30 films from 12 ethnic minority groups, all shot in their native languages with Chinese and English subtitles. All the familiar elements representing the minorities such as the Kazakh yurts, yaks on Tibetan Plateau and Mongolian's Horsehead Zither will show up in the panorama.

A staff member shows a jade necklace worth 200 million Yuan (some 30 million U.S. dollars) in a jewelry shop in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, April 24, 2011. It took eight years to finish the 199.8 gramme jade necklace.

You spin a prayer wheel. You bring a pot of butter. You prepare a white Hada. And you buy a bottle of wine.

Bringing all the necessary offerings, China Daily's multimedia reporter Feng Xin takes you to Drashilhakang Monastery, in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet autonomous region, to serve one goddess who drinks.

Q1: Good evening, Zhang Shuo. Can you tell us more about Chinese tea culture?

A1: Yes, tea is the national beverage of China. Chinese are believed to have enjoyed tea drinking for more than four thousand years, the longest in the world. In Traditional Chinese culture, tea drinkers were always considered to be elite and are highly respected by society. Drinking tea also demonstrate personal morality, education, principle and social status. This is why serving tea gradually became an essential part of Chinese social life. In modern China, even the simplest dwelling has a tea set and a water heater for making a hot cup of tea. These implements are symbols of welcome to visitors and neighbors. Traditionally, a visitor to a Chinese home is expected to sit down and drink hot tea while talking.

In Chinese culture, it is also a sign of respect to serve someone tea. A younger person can show respect and thanks to an older person by offering them a cup of tea. This is especially common during big events, like birthdays and during spring festival.

And I want to show you another special occasion where tea is served. It is this, traditional Chinese weddings. In a traditional Chinese marriage ceremony, both the bride and groom kneel in front of their parents and serve them tea. This is a way of expressing gratitude to their elders for raising them up.

Also, in modern China, tea is an important social tool. People go to tea houses, not for the drink, but for a place to meet with people. So the next time, if someone ask you out for a cup of tea, it is actually an implicit way to invite you to a gathering.

Over the course of 4 thousand years, tea has also had a major influence on the development of Chinese culture. Tea is a mainstay in Chinese literature, arts, philosophy and also religion. Tea is connected closely with Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Going back to the Tang Dynasty 15 hundred years ago, drinking tea is seen as an essential part of personal cultivation.

Also starting from the Tang Dynasty is the tea ceremony. From there, the art form spread to neighboring countries including Japan and Korea. Unlike the world-renowned Japanese tea ceremony, the Chinese one emphasizes the tea rather than the ceremony, like the taste of the tea and the difference between various cups.

Considering all those aspects, I believe China has done a very good job in the past 4 thousand years to preserve tea culture. However, during my investigation of the tea market, I found that China is not doing so well in translating this rich culture into a world leading business. Let's take a look.

With drumbeats thundering and lions dancing, the Beijing Xicheng District Shichahai Maiden Voyage Ceremony was kicked off on the lakeside of Shichahai on April 20, 2011.

Sixteen sculling boats, built according to the renowned Chinese painting “Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival”, sailed on the lake. The captain of the ship sang traditional sailing songs, taking the guests to enjoy the beauty of Shichahai, an oasis in the heart of Beijing.

The event was designed to recreate the busy scene of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal from ancient times, as well as to attract more tourists by showcasing the charm of Shichahai at the beginning and the end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

The ceremony will become an annual event on the date of Grain Rain, the 6th solar term each year.

Tibetan primary school students write sentences and words on a blackboard on April 18, 2011, in Kangding, Sichuan province. The school with a history of more than 60 years has evolved into a model school in local rural areas for its free and boarding education system.

BOSTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong says she expects Harvard University to continue playing an active role in promoting exchanges of education, science and technology, and culture between China and the United States.

Havard has shared a long-standing friendship with China and has established fruitful cooperation with several higher education institutions in China in recent years, Liu said at a welcome reception hosted by the world-renowned university on Wednesday.

CHANGCHUN, April 14 (Xinhua) - Drafting China's first independent law on domestic violence has already been put on the country's top legislature's agenda, an official with the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) said.

This would be the country's first independent and comprehensive law on domestic violence, as currently only a few clauses in several other laws, such as the Marriage Law, have addressed some aspects of the offence.